


I Hate Accidents (Except When We Went From Friends To This)

by eloquence_and_melancholy



Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Jealousy, M/M, Minigolf, Museums, Mutual Pining, Oblivious, a concerning amount of talk about lists and yelp, but only the last two are featured, confessing your feelings for your rival, off brand dennys, seiji pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:27:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26635846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eloquence_and_melancholy/pseuds/eloquence_and_melancholy
Summary: When Nicholas gets asked on a date, Seiji can't help but wonder why his chest feels funny. It takes him a few tries to figure it out.
Relationships: Nicholas Cox/Seiji Katayama
Comments: 6
Kudos: 110





	I Hate Accidents (Except When We Went From Friends To This)

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to get this out before striking distance comes out because who knows what we'll find out about in there and i truly did NOT want to have to go back and edit this
> 
> title comes from taylor swift because i like it. seiji and nicholas share a braincell, and it's usually seiji's, but unfortunately he forgets to use it.

“Hey, Nick!”

Seiji let out a huff of annoyance. This was why he hated eating lunch with Nicholas, because he could never get any peace and quiet. Nick, unfortunately, was a social butterfly. On the way to class, people would go out of their way to say hi. In class, people always wanted to partner up with him, even though he always partnered with Seiji. And during lunch, people wanted to catch up with him.

Nick gave Seiji a sheepish grin before looking over his shoulder at Luke Harmon. “Hey, Luke,”

“Are you busy?” Luke not-so-subtly glanced at Seiji. Seiji narrowed his eyes in response, enjoying the way Luke fidgeted under his gaze.

“I’ve got a minute,” Nick shrugged, “what’s up?”

Luke ripped his eyes away from Seiji and looked back at Nick. Seiji was annoyed by the gleam he got in his eyes.

“Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out with me next weekend?” Luke asked, running a hand through his hair.

Seiji waited with bated breath. His chest started to feel funny. He looked down at his meal — maybe he needed to get a smaller salad next time. That had to be the cause of the weird heaviness he felt.

“Like, on a date?” Nick’s eyes widened. At Luke’s nod, Nick looked over at Seiji. He seemed to be searching for something, but Seiji kept his face blank, and eventually, Nick turned back to Luke, having not found what he was looking for. “Yeah, sure. Next weekend,”

Luke’s face broke out in a blinding grin that made Seiji want to throw up. “Awesome! I’ll text you later, okay?’

Nick smiled softly and nodded. “Okay,”

Seiji waited until Luke left to speak. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “A date, huh?”

“I haven’t been on a date in a while. Not since starting at Kings Row at least. I didn’t even know Luke was interested in me like that,” Nick looked up from his food at Seiji, “You don’t — you don’t think there’s any reason why I shouldn’t go, do you?”

Seiji ignored the sinking feeling in his chest. “He obviously likes you, even if you don’t end up feeling the same you might as well go,”

Oddly, Nick looked disappointed. Seiji was irked by that, because hadn’t it been just last week that Nick told him that friends needed to be supportive of each other? That was him trying.

Being friends with Nicholas was…an experience. The two still bickered, and they annoyed each other to no end, but the insults were less mean-spirited now. Seiji found himself spending more time with Nick than he ever envisioned. Having a friend now meant that Seiji no longer ate alone, or studied in the library alone, or spent his weekends alone. Quite frankly, Nicholas was a nuisance, but he was growing on Seiji. Like a fungus. Or a tumour.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Nick said, seemingly having snapped out of whatever funk he’d been in previously.

“Just don’t bring him home after,” Seiji glared at him. If Nick barged into their room in the middle of the night hoping to have a makeout session with Luke, he had another thing coming to him. 

“Seiji!” Nick laughed, holding a hand up to his chest in mock indignation, “What do you take me for? I don’t put out on the first date,”

After lunch, Seiji expected the feeling to go away. He’d even taken a few Tums too, as a precaution. And yet — he was in the middle of class, taking notes on what Mr. Baker was rambling on about, with a weird flurry of butterflies in his stomach. Angry butterflies. Maybe he was coming down with something?

Seiji still wasn’t exactly sure what the sinking feeling in his chest was. One second Nicholas was getting asked on a date, and the next, he felt like he’d just come down with a virus. 

It wasn’t the same feeling he got when Nick smiled — that was more of a tightening in his chest. Warm even. It was also different from when Nick laughed — more often than not, it was at something Seiji said that was unintentionally funny. Seiji’s stomach fluttered when he laughed, and it felt nice. 

And then finally, it sunk in. He knew what he was feeling — how hadn’t he figured it out earlier? It was so  _ obvious _ in hindsight. A funny feeling in his chest that only occurred after Nick had been asked out by Luke in front of him?

  
  


It was guilt. He felt guilty for not warning Nick’s date about how absolutely infuriating he is. 

Sure, they were tentative friends now, but he wouldn’t wish Nick on his worst enemy. He was loud (Seiji couldn’t even count the number of times Nick had leaned over and tried to whisper in his ear during class. Keyword being  _ tried _ . Nick couldn’t be quiet if his life depended on it. All his detention slips started to make sense to Seiji), and obnoxious (seriously, everything Nick did was annoying. He breathed and Seiji was annoyed — and despite what his therapist says, that does  _ not _ say more about Seiji than Nick), and he talked too much (Nick could talk. Forever. If Seiji got him started on something, Nick would ramble nonstop. And sure, maybe it was somewhat endearing, and yeah, maybe Seiji listened to every single word he said, and okay,  _ maybe _ Seiji would purposefully say something that he knew would get Nick going just so he could watch him with something akin to fondness in his eyes. So what?) , and he was stubborn (that one was pretty self-explanatory. Seiji beat him once, and suddenly Nick decided they were rivals. Yes, Seiji beat him brutally, and then he added insult to injury by mocking him and calling him zero, but that was what happened when you played in the big leagues unprepared), and he left wet towels on the floor (Seiji was 100% convinced Nick did that to spite him. He knew how much it pissed him off. Seriously, how hard was it to hang the towels up after using them?), and he ruined Seiji’s sleep schedule (and yeah, that last one wasn’t even directly Nick’s fault. It wasn’t his fault that Seiji stayed up until the early hours of the morning waxing poetry about him. But that was just what friends did. Ask Tanner). 

Naturally, Seiji’s only next course of action is to put a stop to their date. One might even consider it sabotage. But it was for a good cause, and Seiji always knew he was born to do great things. For the good of humanity, he would make sure Luke  _ never _ took Nick on a date.

“Hey,” Nick shoved himself inside of Seiji’s personal space. The other students in their general vicinity glared at Nick’s volume and his disruptive nature. Fortunately, the teacher hadn’t noticed. “What do you think Mr. Baker would do if I barked out loud? Just barked — like a dog. Right now,”

Yeah, Seiji decided, he was doing Luke a favour.

*

*

Ever since he was a child, Seiji had always been extremely organized. He was a stickler for the rules. He valued order and despised chaos. In fact, Seiji had been born on his exact due date, no earlier, no later. So maybe he’d been that way forever, actually.

And it was precisely for that reason, that Seiji found himself sitting at his desk in his and Nick’s room — ramrod straight in his seat because posture was important — creating a list.

He loved lists. They were versatile, yet always reliable. Need to go grocery shopping? List. Need to choose between two different things? List of pros and cons. There were to-do lists, bucket lists, checklists, ordered lists — Seiji could go on. The point was: lists were one of the only things that made sense in life.

He grabbed his fountain pen and put the date in the corner. Then he titled the list  _ “Seiji Katayama’s Quick and Easy Guide to Ruining Newly Blossoming Relationships; or SKQEGRNBR for short” _ . It was a work in progress.

Before long, Seiji sat back in satisfaction. He quickly proofread the list, making sure there were no spelling mistakes because how embarrassing would that be? Once he was satisfied, he folded the list up and stuck it in his pocket.

The door to the room swung open unceremoniously, and Nick barged in. Nick waved at Seiji absentmindedly before flopping down face first on his bed. Seiji was glad they’d taken down the shower curtain because now he always had an unfettered view of Nick. 

Seiji started putting away his notebook and pen. Nick sighed, slightly muffled from his pillow. Seiji barely spared him a glance.

Then, Nick sighed again. Seiji’s eyes flickered towards him, but he was quickly distracted by the mirror on the wall that was hanging asymmetrically. He went over and gently fixed it.

Louder this time, Nick sighed. And then within a few seconds, he sighed again.

Seiji raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Nicholas?”

Nick ignored him in favour of sighing yet again.

Seiji relented. “What’s wrong?”

Nick’s head popped up. “Thank you for asking — it’s really nice to know you’re so concerned for my well being,”

“You very clearly were fishing for a response. I merely did exactly what you wanted,” Seiji said.

Nick laughed. “You really know how to make a guy feel special,”

Seiji narrowed his eyes at that because he did  _ not _ like the tone Nick was using, but before he could say anything Nick continued speaking.

“I just got off the phone with my mom,” Nick finally shrugged his backpack off and flipped onto his back. He rubbed a hand over his eyes, “She got laid off at work,”

Seiji knew he had to be tactful about this. He tentatively said, “Money’s tight?”

Nick laughed, but this time there was a slight edge to it. “Money’s always been tight. Now it’s going to be nonexistent,”

Seiji thought for a moment. Then he opened his desk drawer and pulled out his laptop. He tossed his pillow at Nick, who caught it with a very disgruntled look, and grabbed the blanket off the foot of his bed. 

He nudged Nick’s thigh with his foot. “Move,”

Nick obliged immediately, though he tilted his head in confusion, and a few strands of his hair fell in his face. Seiji wanted to reach out and brush them away. “What’re you doing?”

“We’re going to watch movies on my laptop,” Seiji slowly explained, as if Nick was a toddler. “You’re upset, but the truth is, there’s nothing you can do about it. At least not right now. So as your friend, I am cheering you up,”

Nick’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape. Then he smiled. “Okay,”

Once they were settled in, Seiji let Nick browse for the movie. And then, because he knew Nick was still distracted by his mom’s unemployment, Seiji said, “I think they call this Netflix and chill”

Nick froze. His lips twitched. “Seiji, where did you hear that?”

“Aiden used it. I thought it described our Friday night’s quite perfectly,” Seiji explained.

Nick tried to hold in his laughter, but eventually, it bubbled out.

“What?” Seiji wrinkled his nose, “We Netflix and chill frequently, Nicholas. Almost every week, sometimes more,”

Nick guffawed. “Please never change.”

Seiji hid his smile. At first, Seiji really had thought he and Nick were Netflix and chilling until Aiden had gone into detail about what the chilling part meant. But Nick didn’t need to know that.

Satisfied that Nick’s problem was temporarily forgotten, Seiji shuffled a little bit closer to him. Enough for their sides to touch. Because it was kind of chilly, and Nick’s body ran warm.

The next morning, Seiji got up early for his private sessions with Coach Dmytro. It may have been the weekend, but fencing was a full-time job. He was able to forget about his Nick-Luke predicament for a while, but as soon as he finished, he started planning his first steps.

It was clear he needed to build doubt in Nick. Make him question whether he even wanted to go out with Luke. But how exactly could Seiji do that?

It didn’t take long before he had a plan. 

When he got back to their room, Nick was still asleep. Seiji ripped the covers off of him and pushed gently on his shoulder. When that didn’t work, he pushed less gently, and that woke Nick up.

He squinted up at Seiji accusingly. “Can I help you?”

“Get up,” Seiji ordered. At Nick’s grumbling, he added, “We’re going out,”

“What? Like, together?” Nick asked “You never want to leave campus with me,”

Seiji raised an eyebrow. “I am allowed to change my mind, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, yeah, for sure,” Nick conceded. He probably didn’t want to press his luck yet, because he’d been begging Seiji to hang out in the city with him to no avail.

“Just get dressed so we can go,” Seiji went back to his side of the room to change. If he was going to take Nick out to show him why he didn’t need Luke when he already had Seiji, then he had to look immaculate. 

“Would it kill you to say please?” Nick retorted.

Seiji thought for a moment. “Probably,”

And the way Nick laughed almost made Seiji feel sorry for Luke. Because Luke would never hear it, not if Seiji could help it.

Seiji all but dragged Nick out of the room. He had the day planned, but if Nick didn’t pick up the pace, they wouldn’t get through everything.

“Uh, guys?” Bobby stood in the hall with a bewildered look on his face. A very lax-looking Dante stood behind him.

Seiji shook his head. “Your bows look very nice today, but we have no time, goodbye,”

Nick shrugged good-naturedly at him. “Seiji and I are going off-campus. Together. Later, Bobby,”

First on the agenda was breakfast, so Seiji dragged Nick to a local restaurant. He’d checked on Yelp to make sure it had a decent rating. Their Yelp score was 3.8 even though most of the reviews were extremely positive. What really brought down their score was a one-star rating from a user called Annihilation69 who claimed that a waiter by the name of “Martin” had given them blueberry pancakes when they asked for chocolate chip.

As they sat down at the table and waited for someone to take their order, Seiji kept a lookout for Martin. If Martin ruined Nicholas’ experience, Seiji was going to follow Annihilation69’s lead and give them a one-star rating too.

“Sorry about the wait guys,” The waiter who rushed over was slightly out of breath. He reached into his apron and whipped out a pen and paper, “What would you like?”

Nicholas opened his mouth to order (Seiji already knew what Nick wanted: waffles with way too much syrup). Seiji cut him off.

“Are you Martin?” He inquired.

The waiter blinked. “Uh, yeah. Why?”

“Well,  _ Martin,” _ Seiji gave the man his famous stone-cold stare, “would you care to explain yourself?”

“About — about what?”

Nicholas’ face mirrored Martin’s look of confusion. He also seemed a bit amused. Honestly, Nick should be grateful, seeing as how Seiji was conducting an investigation and interrogating their waiter for  _ his _ sake.

“Annihilation69 on Yelp had quite the experience with you last month. You have a reputation for bringing out blueberry pancakes instead of chocolate chip ones,” Seiji said.

“Annihilation69, huh?” Nick was biting his lip to keep from laughing. 

“I don’t — what are you on about?” Martin’s eyebrows furrowed.

Seiji waved him off. “I’m just letting you know beforehand that I’ve got my eye on you,”

“Yeah, me too,” Nick nodded. Then he winked at Seiji, which confirmed that he had no idea what Seiji was talking about, but he was going to support him in his endeavours nonetheless. Seiji ignored the warmness in his chest.

After ordering, Martin hurried off, a little too desperate for Seiji’s liking.

“What, did you vet this place out before bringing me here?” Nick raised an eyebrow as he leaned back in his seat. 

Seiji nodded. “Of course I did. I wouldn’t bring you somewhere without doing research beforehand to make sure it’s suitable. I care about you, we’re friends, remember?”

Nick got a weird look in his eyes that Seiji couldn’t decipher. Then he gently smiled and said, “I remember,”

Seiji wasn’t sure why he felt the need to blush, but he looked down to hide it from Nick regardless.

*

*

After breakfast, Seiji brought Nick to their next stop.

“A museum?” Nick tilted his head, “I’m kind of flattered you think I’m the museum-going type,”

Seiji rolled his eyes. “It’s a completely interactive exhibition. It was marketed online for kids, but I figured you’d enjoy it just as much,”

Nick’s eyes lit up. “Interactive? Like an arcade? Awesome, let’s go,”

Seiji didn’t even bother correcting him, which was a testament to how much he let Nicholas get away with. 

Seiji had been to plenty of museums in his lifetime. It was one of the only things he had in common with his father. The two of them went head-to-head often, but at a museum, or a gallery, they were able to put aside their differences and just appreciate art in all its forms.

However, this place had to be the absolute worst museum he’d ever stepped foot in. It was appalling what the people there thought passed for art. And what made it worse, was that Nick seemed to  _ love _ it.

“Look, Seiji!” Nick frantically gestured in front of them, “This one’s made up of chewed gum,”

Seiji took a deep breath and tried not to gag when Nick actually reached out to touch it. He needed to get out of here, and quickly.

“Nicholas,” Seiji said.

Nick hummed, still completely enamoured by the abysmal gum statue. 

“Look at that,” Seiji pointed out the window, “birds. Outside. Don’t you want to go chase them instead?”

Nick laughed. “Are you treating me like a dog?”

Seiji had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. “I just  _ really _ want to go. The gum statue is grotesque and I feel like it’s watching me,”

More laughter bubbled out of him. “Alright, let’s go. I’m sure there’s a movie playing at the theatre that we can go see,”

Seiji could’ve kissed him. But he didn’t obviously. He’d never do that. He hadn’t even considered it. Ever.

Going to the movies was a much better use of their time. Sitting beside Nick in a darkened room, enjoying a cheesy rom-com and eating out of the same bag of popcorn was worth a lot more than any museum ever could be.

“Do you like mini-golf?” Seiji asked after they walked out of the theatre.

“Love it,” Nick grinned.

“Perfect, let’s go,” Seiji nodded.

*

*

Seiji was starting to see the problem with his masterplan. He was enjoying his friend-date with Nick a little too much.

Sure Nicholas could be annoying. And stupid. And stubborn. And clueless. And frustrating. And loud. But, for reasons beyond his own comprehension, Seiji didn’t mind. In fact, one may even say he enjoyed it.

At least now he realized that he did have something in common with Luke — they both had a thing for Nicholas. Begrudgingly, Seiji could admit it. He wanted to be more than friends with Nick.

He missed back when he hated Nicholas. Or maybe he never really did hate him. Maybe he always subconsciously knew.

Seiji had never been one to beat around the bush. So he spoke up just after Nick swung his club.

“I don’t want you to go out with Luke,”

Startled, Nick lost his grip and the two of them watched helplessly as the mini golf club flew through the air, landing in a bush. Nick spun around to face Seiji. “What?”

“I don’t want you to go on a date with Luke next weekend,” Seiji repeated.

“And,” Nick coughed, “why, uh, is that?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but people don’t like me, Nicholas” Seiji said.

“No,” Nick fake gasped. 

Seiji trudged on. “Idolize me? Maybe. Obsess over me? Sure. Admire me and all my skills? Obviously,” 

  
Seiji ignored the way Nick mumbled  _ “Humble as ever,” _ under his breath.

“But they don’t like me. No one ever has.” Seiji closed his eyes for a moment, then he looked at Nick, “Until you, that is,”

“Of course I like you,” Nick said, earnest as ever. It gave Seiji the strength to carry on.

“Nobody’s ever made me feel as alive as you,” Seiji felt his lips slip into a smile despite himself. Nick’s eyes widened, “For the first time in my life, I want something other than fencing. I want  _ you, _ Nicholas,”

For what felt like hours, but was probably closer to a few seconds, they were silent. Seiji wasn’t sure his heart had ever beat this fast in his entire life. He wondered if Nick could hear it. And then —

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear you say that,” Nick laughed, a little breathlessly. Nick came closer, so the two of them were almost chest-to-chest. “I never wanted to go out with Luke. I said yes because you seemed to think it was a good idea. I thought that — maybe he could help me get over you,”

“Oh,” Seiji breathed out. Maybe he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was. Or maybe he was just stupid when it came to Nick. 

“Yeah,  _ oh,” _ Nick mocked. Seiji found he didn’t mind being made fun of when it was Nick. “Now, are you gonna kiss me or what?”

Seiji didn’t waste time replying, not when he was too busy breaking Nick’s bravado act. He wrapped his hand around the back of Nick’s neck and pulled him in, finally putting his mouth to good use. Nick’s lips were soft, and his kiss was eager.

When Seiji pulled back, he saw the dazed look on Nick’s face and tried to commit it to memory.

“Wow,” Nick sighed, like a lovesick preteen.

Seiji held his hand out. “Can I have your phone?”

Wordlessly, Nick nodded and slipped it out of his back pocket. He placed it in Seiji’s hand, seemingly still stuck in the clouds. Seiji thought it was a nice ego boost. 

As Seiji started putting in the passcode, Nick snapped to attention. “Hey, what’re you doing?”

Without looking up he said, “I’m cancelling your date with Luke,”

“Be nice about it, he’s already plenty scared of you as it is,” Nick warned.

Seiji rolled his eyes. He put his hand on Nick’s cheek, cupping it softly, and gave him another kiss. Nick’s eyes went wide and his cheeks reddened. Satisfied that he’d been suitably distracted, Seiji went back to messaging Luke.

He kept it short and simple, and worded it a lot nicer than he ever normally would have. It wasn’t just because Nick asked either, it was also because, technically, he owed Luke. Without Luke, Seiji might not have found out what it was like to kiss Nick.

And as he slipped Nick’s phone back into his pocket, he kissed him again. 

*

*

_ Bonus _

“Seiji,” Nick raised an eyebrow, “what’s that in your pocket?”

It took him a moment to remember. “Oh, it was a list of ways I was going to sabotage your date with Luke,” Seiji shrugged.

Nick blinked. Seiji handed over the folded note. After unfurling it, Nick quickly scanned the entire sheet.

“You made this?” Nick asked.

Seiji nodded. “In hindsight, I should’ve realized what it meant. Oh well, I didn’t even get very far into it anyway,”

“This was part  _ one?” _ Nick looked alarmed, “What came next — a proposal?”

Seiji held Nick’s face between his hands. Then he tilted his head to ask for permission. Nick sighed and nodded, clearly used to the distraction tactic by now, but not opposed to it. They met in the middle, melting into the kiss.

Nicholas was better off not knowing.

**Author's Note:**

> every time nicholas and seiji fight from now on nick says ooo u wanna kiss me so bad and it drives seiji insane it just wasn't important to the plot <3


End file.
